EU offers standards lead for asylum seekers

Compulsory minimum standards for the treatment of asylum seekers
within the European Union have been put forward by the European
Commission.

The commission has proposed that member states provide a
“minimum level of support with special help for the vulnerable”
such as unaccompanied children, torture victims and pregnant
women.

EU ministers are to consider a directive to make governments
responsible for ensuring that asylum seekers enjoy “a dignified
standard of living,” leaving the final details to be decided by
individual governments themselves. But the proposal does specify
that would-be refugees should be allowed access to the labour
market six months after making their asylum application.

It would also specify circumstances in which national
governments could reduce or withdraw support given to asylum
seekers, for example if they behaved violently at an accommodation
centre.